Dharma, sutras, and commentarial interpretations of interest to American Buddhists of all traditions with news that not only informs but transforms. Emphasis on meditation, enlightenment, karma, social evolution, and nonharming.
(To contact us, leave a comment marked "private").

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

"Daddy, I want to be a Buddha!" (video)

At the Royal Ontario Museum the exotic statues and gorgeous figurines show that the history of Earth and its people has much more to offer than we can hardly imagine (Tanzim Ahmed/Eighteen for Life/flickr.com)

Of what use is American Christianity if we can never hope to become "Christs" (Anointed Ones)?

Similarly, of what use would it be to be Buddhists with no hope of ever becoming "Buddhas" (Awakened Ones)? The Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was literally an "anointed" king, a kshatriya, a warrior-caste "noble." This is likely the Near Eastern root of the practice appropriated in the developing Western iteration of Mahayana-Zoroastrian-Mithraism-Christianity.

The Holy Roman Catholic Church has been particularly good about appropriating the mysteries and rites of other religions -- taking all the best holidays from around the world and incorporating them into its theology, for example, Pagan Easter, Christmas, Lent, Pentecost, and Halloween becoming All Souls' Day.

The Buddha (FredMin/flickr)

Anyone can go to heaven, as there are many heavens to return to by rebirth. (Some are even accessible physically, and most are accessible via meditation here and now). Likewise, any ordinary person of ordinary intelligence and ability can become enlightened. This is not to say that either getting to a heaven or entering upon that transcendent wisdom that leads to liberation from all rebirth and suffering is easy.

But to become a "saint," which many Christians define as one who lives in heaven (Catholics adding a few features including the ability to produce miracles), both of which are possible by the temporary suppression of defilements, and which Buddhists define as arhatship, which is only possible by eradication of defilements, is not easy.

It is not likely, it is not common, it is not to be left to the last minute, and is actually rare in the world. But it exists. In Buddhism, contrary to our logical expectations,

Enlightenment purifies view rather than personality.

Grand misdeed: accusing the Buddha

It is not electroshock. While it fundamentally changes one, preserves one from rebirth in miserable states (beneath the human world, which is considered a fortunate realm), paradoxically it does not make one a nimbus-sporting goody two shoes.

Wrong view -- manifesting as delusion (moha) -- is the root cause of our woe, giving rise to harmful intentions co-motivated by and co-arising with greed and aversion. We become attached in ignorance (avijja, avidya), we suffer from fear and hate rooted in ignorance. Buddhist saints are liberated from such unwholesome roots of karma. Yet, oddly, they retain their proclivities and dispositions (sankharas), their "individuality" and quirks. But they are not buddhas.

A buddha is far more. Having awakened, a supremely Enlightened One knows more than an ordinary arhat. For example, because of the perfections cultivated, their awakening comes with analytical knowledges. And in the case of supremely-fully-awakened-ones(samma-sam-buddhas), as distinct from rare "non-teaching" or paccekabuddhas, the ability to effectively teach, establish, and transmit the Dharma is unique to a "light of the world" teacher.

If a christ could do that, it would be wonderful. If the Buddha, five to eight centuries after his passing into final-nirvana, inspired Jesus the Christ (St. Issa) to awaken others and lead them on to splendid rebirths in heaven, is that not also a wonderful thing? Fundamentalists will not stand for such talk.

Daughter

The famous female bodhisattva, Avalokita

Once upon a time, there was a little girl. She beheld a Buddha, gold and luminous, a blissful but contained smile across its face, and said to her father: "Daddy, I want to become a buddha."

"You'll have to become a bodhisattva (buddha-to-be, a being-bent-on-enlightenment) first," her father replied."

"Oh, I'm already that," she said with certainty.

"Then can you teach me?" the father implored.

"I'll come back when you're ready," she assured him.

"You mean, as Maitreya (the future-Buddha)?" the father lamented.

"No, in this very life, when you and I are both ready."

The father smiled. "By the way, hun, who told you that?"

"My brother."

"Your brother the monk?"

Documentary: "My Brother, Buddhist Monk" (Finland, in Finnish with English subtitles) is the story of a 26-year-old guy's quest as he leaves his home country to become a Buddhist monk in the mountainous jungles of southern-central Thailand in a forest monastery called "Wat Map Jan." The story was documented by his sister, who provides the narration, and their family. She spent a month in a Buddhist monastery. (This is my story, and here).

Funny

WISDOM QUARTERLY

All materials on this site are submitted by editors and readers. All images, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain.

In the event that there is still a problem, issue, or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial, and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof.

Contact us by submitting a comment marked "private."

Do not follow this journal if you are under vinaya or parental restrictions. Secure protection by Sucuri.

Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at creativecommons.org/about/licenses.